Study: Wal-Mart policies cost California taxpayers

[Kadie]

Last modified Monday, August 2, 2004 9:44 PM PDT

Study: Wal-Mart policies cost California taxpayers

By: MICHAEL LIEDTKE - AP Business Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s compensation policies cost California taxpayers $86 million annually to provide health care and other public assistance to the retailer's underpaid workers, according to an analysis released Monday.

Wal-Mart disputed the study by the University of California Berkeley's Institute for Industrial Relations, contending many of its key findings are badly flawed.

The study estimated Wal-Mart employs roughly 44,000 California workers who make an average of $9.70 per hour - 31 percent below the $14.01-per-hour average of other large retailers with at least 1,000 employees. The study calculated Wal-Mart's wages using 2001 payroll figures disclosed in a sex discrimination lawsuit against the retailer.


But Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said the study's job and wage estimates for California are outdated. The world's largest retailer employs 60,500 California workers who are paid an average of $10.37 per hour, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin. "The (study's) conclusions are questionable because they are based on faulty assumptions."



more... http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/03/news/state/18_56_418_2_04.txt

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Wal-Mart should pay the bill.

Corporate America should take care of their people and not pass on the responsibility to the public. That's why they get so many benes.